Saturday, August 29, 2009

Carl Edwards Crashes Heavily In Montreal Grand Am Warm-up

SPEED came on the air at 2PM with amazing footage of Carl Edwards crashing his Grand Am car on the warm-up lap of the Saturday race in Montreal.

The race is now delayed for the cleap-up as rain threatens the area. Edwards appeared to be uninjured, but as of 2:10PM had not yet been interviewed on TV.

We will open this short thread until we get all the details of the incident and confirm that Edwards is OK.

Update 1: Edwards is uninjured and advises that his tires were cold and he was aggressive on his warm up lap. SPEED replay shows left rear tire touch a painted line on the track under power and spin the car into a barrier.

Update 2: Race is now underway on SPEED on a dreary looking day in Montreal that may again involve rain. Great coverage from SPEED of all the events happening before and during the start.

Well that certainly sucks, hopefully Carl is OK. Marcos looked disappointed. All that hype and now this. I read an Australian article that was linked from a Marcos twitter that said he was racing with Jimmie Johnson, this 48 fan is glad it wasn't JJ in that wall, guess that explains why Lowes is so picky about what they let him do.

Oh by the way I just got finished watching a rerun of the most exciting cup race on an oval- Herbie fully loaded, 1 question how did that car get past tech inspection. ;)

Thanks so much for your coverage of this--I'm visiting relatives who don't have SPEED. Was disappointed that I couldn't see Edwards/Ambrose in the Grand Am race. I'm sorry he crashed, but now I'm not missing anything.

The crash wasn't too severe. It's more along the lines of it takes time to get to interviews due to size of the track and they don't have piles of reporters as nascar does. Real shame for marcos. He seemed really excited then letdown by it.

On roadcourses they should run in the rain. Sprint especially compared to Nationwide. Sprint is the more experienced. Sprint has larger bankrolls to afford the one off mods. The list goes on and on.

Watched it live and the replays. Crushed the front clip busted the steering. The cars are incredibly well made. I'm not saying it wasn't a hard crash. Carl still seemed a little dazed. Just saying that the lack of information and interview tends more to the smaller coverage group then the total severeness of the crash.

As far as the reasons cup can't do it. Those are still relevant to the smaller nationwide. And dammit I keep typing busch. I think the racing is great in the rain. If you want to be top dog series you have to run in the rain. Unless its crazy like Suzuka that one year. That was insane.

Jim, I disagree about racing in the rain. These cars aren't built for it and honestly the investment to get a car prepared/developed that can race in the rain so you can actually see where your going just isn't worth the investment for a just-in-case scenario.

Just my thoughts.

Least that explains what happened to Carl. I was watching my Lions online.

kinda different from Sprint/NW cars ...the Grand Ams don't take kindly to hard objects ...heard Carl was OK, but wasn't sure until I saw your pic ...it felt good to know 'House' was on hand to oversee appropriate medical care

I thought I had seen an article in the last couple of days that quoted a NASCAR official, (R. Poston?), that while the race would be run in the wet, qualifying wouldn't. The article was discussing the lack of preparedness of some of the NW teams last year.

Does anyone else remember seeing that, or am I getting "halfheimers"? I have searched, but can't come across it. Thanks!

I had the IRL pre-race and quals shifting back and forth but once the race started we've kept it on IRL. Those cars are going so fast. I really like the pit road reporter and I didn't catch her name it might be Wendy or Lindy. She's doing a great job.

@David:Thanks for the response. I had written that before watching qualifying. I heard more than one reference to the fact that NASCAR had said there would be no qualifying in the rain, but changed the rules. What a surprise, eh?

That said, I enjoyed watching. The conditions certainly added an interesting twist. Having 5-6 cars on the track, and the resulting effect on faster cars' qualifying times was interesting too. I believe this procedure was also used in the Mexico City races.

Does anyone out there know if indeed Fellows is going to the back after, (or if), they repair the car's nose?

Also, wondering if Said did indeed blow an engine,and is going to the back to start.

I have really enjoyed the two preceding Montreal races despite the quality of BSPN's presentation. I just try to focus on the racing and not get worked up over TV presentation.